Just before Trump’s inauguration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suddenly canceled a major climate change summit which had been planned months in advanced.

The Climate and Health Summit was scheduled for February in Atlanta by the CDC, which was a gathering for public health officials around the country to come together and discuss climate change and its impact on human health.

But, that all changed once President Trump was elected. According to Energy & Environment News, the CDC “quietly and abruptly” canceled the conference in the weeks leading up to the inauguration.

On Jan. 9, officials sent an email to those who were scheduled to speak at the event, though it did not cite reasons for why they chose to cancel last minute.

CDC officials wrote, “Unfortunately, we are unable to hold the Summit in February 2017,” and added that they are “currently exploring options so that the Summit may take place later in the year.”

American Public Health Association’s executive director, Georges Benjamin — who was scheduled to be a keynote speaker — stated that the agency preemptively called off the CDC summit in light of the President’s referring to climate change as a hoax, as well as his move to nominate several Cabinet members who are skeptics of it.

Benjamin told reporters, “They ran it up the flagpole and realized that it was so close to the inauguration, the chances of it being canceled were pretty real with the administration that was coming in.” He added, “Some might argue they should have said, ‘We’re going to do this and make them tell us no.’ But that was the decision they made. We should think of this as a strategic retreat.”

Since the new administration took office, all mention of climate change has been scrubbed from its website. The website now shows a an energy plan that focuses on furthering developments of oil, coal, shale, and natural gas using drilling and mining.

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